Georgetown and Scott County officials heard a final housing needs assessment that found strong future population and job growth, rising housing demand and a persistent shortage of units affordable to the lowest‑income households, consultants told a joint session on Oct. 25, 2025.

The assessment projects “very strong population growth into the future” and says the county will need new homeownership and senior units while also addressing rental shortages for younger, lower‑paid workers, Summer Pan, senior project manager for consultant RKG, told the council and fiscal court. “The city and county must create organizational capacity to facilitate housing expansion,” she said.

Why it matters: consultants and city staff warned that without a public strategy to increase supply and preserve existing affordable housing, the market will continue to produce higher‑value units and squeeze out lower‑income renters and owners. The report and staff comments focused on building capacity, preserving aging housing, creating “missing middle” housing (duplexes, triplexes, townhomes), monitoring short‑term rentals and pursuing public–private financing tools to spur mixed‑income development.

Key findings and scale of the shortage

Summer Pan summarized survey and housing‑market data the consultants collected: about 1,800 community survey responses, roughly 117 employer survey responses and employer feedback that recruitment and retention are already affected by a lack of affordable housing. The assessment estimates a current shortfall of roughly 600 ownership units and about 800 rental units for households earning at or below 50% of area median income (AMI). Because of projected growth, the county could add another approximately 560 owner households and 250 renter households at or below 50% AMI by 2030, the report said.

Pan noted that the county’s housing stock is dominated by single‑family homes, vacancy rates are low and new construction trends toward larger, higher‑priced homes and higher‑value rental and ownership segments. “If there is no intervention from the public side, the market will continue to build to the highest threshold of the market,” Pan said.

Recommendations presented

Consultants and city staff outlined multiple strategies rather than a single fix. Ross (consultant) and Russell (consultant) described five strategic elements in the plan: spearheading housing change by creating an organizational entity, protecting existing supply and revitalizing neighborhoods, creating new affordable housing initiatives (including missing‑middle and multifamily options), building partnerships and capacity, and using policy and zoning changes to permit more housing types.

Specific recommended actions mentioned in the presentation and discussion

- Explore a community‑based affordable housing entity or land trust/land bank to coordinate development and rehabilitation projects and to control land for affordable housing use.
- Approach a consortium of local banks to capitalize a proposed revolving land acquisition fund; consultants used a $5,000,000 example as an illustration of scale.
- Pursue low‑income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects in partnership with the Georgetown Housing Authority and Kentucky Housing Corporation for larger multifamily affordable developments; consultants noted the region has not seen LIHTC projects approved in recent years.
- Monitor and regulate short‑term rentals and long‑term rental quality, including registration and inspections, to protect housing stock and long‑term rental availability (consultants reported 133 known short‑term rental properties in the county at the time of the study).
- Preserve affordability by targeting rehabilitation in neighborhoods with deteriorating housing stock, including areas identified north in the county and within Georgetown as having higher concentrations of poor housing condition.
- Expand homelessness services and shelter capacity; staff are pursuing Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding and already obtained Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and tenant‑based rental assistance (TBRA) funds to support rapid rehousing and the low‑barrier shelter.

Staff priorities and existing programs

Candace Whitehouse, director of Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention, told the joint meeting her office will prioritize several items from the assessment. She said the office has secured federal ESG and TBRA funding that has supported the low‑barrier shelter and helped move individuals into housing by covering deposits, moving costs and short‑term rental assistance. “These funds have made it possible for the low‑barrier shelter to expand and to meet more needs of the unhoused individuals in our community,” Whitehouse said.

Whitehouse also said her office is monitoring long‑term rental quality and market trends, exploring community land trust models in the state, and tracking opportunities to use publicly owned parcels for mixed‑income projects. She urged continued public education about planning and zoning changes that could be proposed in the future.

Questions, concerns and local context from officials and residents

Council and fiscal‑court members and residents raised questions about land availability, tax capacity and unintended consequences. Councilmember David Livingston (resident comment) asked whether references to “US‑75” in the report should be corrected to Interstate 75; planning staff agreed to correct the reference. Planning staff member Holden Fleming supplied a parcel estimate from the comprehensive plan, saying that roughly 3,400 dwelling units within the urban service boundary could be built on unbuilt lots as of the 2022 land inventory (he noted the data are lagged by a few years).

Several local officials expressed caution about scale and cost. One council member noted Scott County’s relatively low tax base compared with larger peer communities and urged careful, incremental steps. Others supported exploring public–private financing partnerships and targeting vacant or publicly owned parcels for infill and missing‑middle housing types.

Homelessness, shelter capacity and rapid rehousing

Both consultants and staff emphasized that official point‑in‑time counts understate the number of people experiencing homelessness. Pan cited local service providers’ experience: the Amen House served more than 800 individuals in a year and local schools identified over 300 students as homeless. Whitehouse described how ESG and TBRA funds are used for rapid rehousing: paying security deposits, first month’s rent and short‑term assistance so clients with incomes can move from shelters or hotels into stable housing and, where needed, receive months of rental assistance to stabilize.

What was not decided

No formal ordinance, resolution or binding funding commitment was adopted during the meeting. The consultants’ recommendations were presented for discussion, and city staff signaled intent to prioritize several actions; final policy decisions, zoning changes, funding allocations and any land‑disposition mechanisms would require separate council or fiscal court action and public hearings.

Next steps noted during the meeting

Staff and consultants recommended forming smaller‑scale pilot steps while building longer‑term capacity: pursue CDBG funding for shelter expansion, engage local banks and developers to assess interest in a land acquisition fund, develop small‑area neighborhood revitalization plans, refine regulations to allow missing‑middle housing where contextually appropriate, and monitor investor purchases and short‑term rental growth.

The meeting closed with officials and staff urging continued community education, targeted planning work and coordination between the city and county to align growth, protect rural character where desired and place denser housing where services and infrastructure can support it.

Ending

City and county leaders did not adopt immediate binding measures at the session; staff said they will return with implementation proposals and corrected technical errors in the draft report. “This housing needs assessment will be a foundational document for this office,” Whitehouse said as the jurisdictions consider the next steps.